Reagan Gets Hostages` Plea

U.s. Still Refuses To Negotiate

November 09, 1985|By Liz Sly, Special to The Tribune. Tribune Washington correspondent George E. Curry and reporter Jack Houston in Chicago contributed to this story.

BEIRUT — Four of the American hostages in Lebanon addressed an open letter to President Reagan on Friday appealing to him to negotiate for their release. The White House refused.

Among those who signed the letter was Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco of Joliet, Ill., whose brother supported Reagan`s firm stance.

The letter to Reagan and seven other letters were in a bundle thrown from a passing car outside the Associated Press bureau in West Beirut.

The other letters were addressed to the four hostages` families; to the AP; to Reps. George O`Brien of Joliet and Robert Dornan of California, who have pressed the hostages` case in Washington; and to the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie, who has offered to negotiate for their release. The text of the letter to Dr. Runcie was not made public.

A hastily scribbled note dated 1 p.m. Friday was also included. It said:

``We have just been told that someone has claimed that Islamic Jihad has killed all of us. Obviously this is not true.`` Anonymous callers had said Thursday that all six Americans missing in Beirut had been ``executed.`` The note said of those calls: ``Our captors say it was an attempt by the U.S. government to spoil negotiations.``

Islamic Jihad is an extremist Shiite Moslem group blamed for kidnaping all six Americans.

The three open letters--to Reagan, the congressmen and AP--were signed by Father Jenco; Terry Anderson, AP bureau chief; Thomas Sutherland of the American University of Beirut; and David Jacobsen, American University Hospital director.

The letter to Reagan acknowledges his past refusal to negotiate with the Americans` captors but says in underlined words that ``there`s no

alternative`` if they are to be freed. It implores him, ``Will you not have mercy on us and our families . . . ?``

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the administration will not negotiate.

``The President`s policy has not and will not change on negotiations with terrorists,`` Speakes said. But he said: ``We have no objections (to)

discussions with people who are holding hostages, and direct discussions. But we do not negotiate.``

The hostages` letter to Reagan said: ``You negotiated over the hostages from the TWA plane (hijacked to Beirut in June), and such negotiations have been held repeatedly and successfully by other countries--Israel, Egypt, El Salvador and the Soviet Union.``

Speakes denied the U.S. had negotiated with any captors or urged other countries to do so.

Father Jenco`s brother, John, said he supported the White House.

``The (U.S. government`s) policy isn`t going to change one iota, and I have to agree. If we can be kowtowed by a minority group of fanatics, you can imagine what would happen at the Reagan-Gorbachev summit.

``If my brother has to suffer the consequences of our stiff policy, then we`ll have to accept that for the sake of our own freedoms in America,`` he said.

Mae Mihelich, a sister of the captive priest, said: ``We need our government to talk to someone there in Beirut. If they have, we don`t know.`` Speakes said the United States will continue to hold the captors responsible for the safety of the American hostages, including two whose names did not appear on the letter: William Buckley, a U.S. Embassy official; and Peter Kilburn, a librarian at the American University.

``We are told William Buckley is dead,`` the hostages` letters said. An Islamic Jihad caller claimed Oct. 4 that Buckley had been executed, and a blurry photo supposedly of his body was released, but the body has not been found and the U.S. says it has no proof of his death.

Jihad claimed last December to have kidnaped Kilburn but has made no mention of him in recent months.

Rev. Benjamin Weir, whom the kidnapers freed in September, said he never saw Buckley or Kilburn but did see the four who signed Friday`s letter.

Rev. Weir, a Presbyterian minister, had been held 16 months. He told Reagan that if the U.S. did not pressure Kuwait to release 17 convicted terrorists, the remaining hostages in Lebanon would be killed and more might be kidnaped.

The White House answer then was the same as it was Friday.

The hostages` letter Friday, apparently written by Anderson, described uncomfortable living and sanitary conditions and deteriorating health.

At times it bore a tone of desperation. It said the captors are ``growing impatient. . . . Mr. President, how long do you suppose these people will wait?``

The letter to Congressmen O`Brien and Dornan is almost identical to the one sent to Reagan. It thanks them for their efforts on behalf of the four and adds:

``But we would ask more of you--President Reagan`s efforts on our behalf have accomplished nothing--they have not won release of a single hostage from this group in nearly two years.

``We ask you, your fellow congressmen and members of the U.S. Senate to try to persuade President Reagan to take the only course available to win our release, and to take it quickly.``

The letter to the AP begs for quick publication of the letters, and it underlines that they ``have been written voluntarily without coercion or dictation.``

``We specifically ask that you not heed any requests from U.S. officials not to publish these letters. We feel strongly that secrecy is delaying our release and public discussion will speed it.``